One Step Closer to Greater Understanding! Does a Correlation Exist Between Fluid Intelligence and Player Rank in League of Legends?

<p>Chess, one of the oldest modern games, has long been a model domain for expertise research. In comparison, research on video games has historically been influenced by moral panic. Cycles of moral panic tend to revolve around preconceived notions of threats, held at a societal level (typically by older generations). Politicians, quick to capitalize, then advocate for policy change based upon their constituents’ fears. Concurrent media reports draw further attention to the issue, amplifying the perception of harm. As the panic escalates, pressure is placed on scientific communities to perform confirmatory (not exploratory) research. This fundamentally biased approach to research generates more fear, which makes it way back to politicians and the media, who then amplify the concerns of the general public. However, recent studies have shown playing video games may be associated with improvements in some cognitive ability domains, such as working memory, fluid intelligence, visuospatial ability, and executive functions. This study was designed to bring some attention to whether competitive video games, like the strategy game <em>League of Legends </em>(<em>LoL</em>),<em> </em>are correlated with cognitive abilities. Studies on expertise in chess have indicated, with few exceptions, that fluid intelligence (g<em>f</em>) is not correlated with becoming an expert. <em>LoL</em>, unlike chess, is subject to frequent updates. It was hypothesized that given the dynamic nature of <em>LoL</em>,<em> </em>player rank would be correlated with g<em>f</em>.<em> </em>To answer this question, a combination of convenience sampling and snowball sampling methods were used to recruit adult players who were ranked in <em>LoL</em> and played on North American servers. Of the 489 individuals who responded, 59 failed to complete the survey, leaving a sample of 430. Participants answered questions about demographics, practice habits, and history, and then completed the Self-Report Measure of Cognitive Abilities (SRMCA) and the Matrix Matching Test (MMT). Visuospatial Matrix performance on the MMT, an indirect measure of g<em>f</em>, was significantly correlated with player rank (<em>r</em> = .419, <em>p</em> < .001), as was participant self-perceived g<em>f</em>, as measured by the SRMCA (<em>r</em> = .196, <em>p</em> < .001). However, the direction of this correlation was not ascertained through this study. More specifically, it has not yet been determined whether individuals with higher levels of cognitive ability are able to perform in competitive video games, such as <em>LoL</em>, or whether these video games train cognitive abilities.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Psy.D. Doctor of Clinical Psychology

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation - Public Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Clinical Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2025

Author dc:creator

• Miller, Evan

Contributors dc:contributor

• Emese Vitalis, Ph.D.
• Laura Monti, Ph.D., Psy.D.
• Ericka Mingo, Ph.D.

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuropsychology
• Fluid Intelligence
• Video Games
• Expertise
• Clinical Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/diss/919

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.nl.edu:diss-1986